Les

I can play it fine to the track, just not in the band, so I blame the drummer.

[b] Im not bad at copying bass lines that other people make, might take me a day or so to master it upto a few weeks for something complex.[/b] If you can add drinking to excess and getting so pi**ed with the guitarist after the bands first gig that you walk home and forget to pick the fee up then you would be eminently qualified to be the bass player in my band. The Shuker is a thing of beauty, but alas it has twice as many pickups as I would know what to do with. It made my brain hurt when I bought my Ray cos' it had THREE knobs on it !! I decided to just turn them all full on and forget about them, that was 25 years ago. Seriously though, your off abroad soon so it's moot, and you're probably a bit far away from me in Wigan but if you were closer I and my band would have no problems letting you do a couple or however many numbers that you'd had time to learn in our set at one of our gigs. In fact I'd be leaning to the last 3 so I could start the excessive drinking earlier than the guitarist. It really will open your eyes and give you a taste of what I personally think it's all about. There must be someone in South Yorkshire on here who would do the same for you ?? If you pack it in before you've played in front of an audience I think that would be incredibly sad.

[b]You need to gig. [/b] If you want to be in an original band and you can't write basslines then that's the way the mop flops. It's not going to happen for you. Don't think it would happen for me to be honest. If you end up in a covers band and you can learn the bassline and play in time to the track, then you've played the bassline as well as the guy on the track, it's just that he had the imagination/ability/flair to actually write it. Doesn't mean your a sh*t bassplayer. Didn't know the Rush track so googled it and watched it. Not being able to play that yet is not really cause to beat yourself up. My theory is non existent, I don't really listen to much music, I've gigged for a long time, never been sacked so I would hope I'm competent at what I do, but that's for others to say really. There are huge gaps in my musical ability, mostly timing, not that I play out of time all the time but sometimes I find things tricky that other people don't. I have to actually count one section of a Foo Fighters song we do and to watch me and the drummer trying to come in on "sex on fire" is pure comedy showband, we land in a heap but manage to get up at the same time so just about get away with it. Doesn't make the band rubbish though. Find a band, not a bunch of mates and a smartarse guitarist. It will open up a new world to you. I haven't been here long so I hope to god I'm not going to offend anybody but I really don't understand this bedroom bass playing lark. I've played for a long time but if I'd done 5 years just playing bass in my bedroom I'd be weighing all my gear in for another motorbike. Jeez, that was a long post for me. I'd better go and lie down in a darkened room for a bit. Best of luck, what ever you decide to do. Oh, and £80 and fifty pence for the shuker. Don't want to get bid crazy just yet as I've been out of it so long I don't acyually know what it is.

Missed this first time round cos' I was on holiday. That video's great. I'm well impressed, to say the least.

Err...if it doesn't make the grade, will it be for sale (...scrabbling down back of sofa)? [/quote] Thought about it a few times, but couldn't quite pull the trigger. It was my first real bass age 16 so sentimentality comes in. I have no idea how much it would be worth to be honest.

[quote name='lozbass' post='590506' date='Sep 5 2009, 11:36 AM']Just lovely - is that orange with slightly deeper orange competition stripes? I love these things - one of the coolest basses around, and especially so with the early '70s colours and stripes[/quote] Yes, that's the one. Trouble is, now I've played it again I remember why I retired it. Gonna give it a shot at the next gig but I have my doubts to be honest.

Sorry about the photo quality, just used my fone. [attachment=32131:03092009_002_.jpg] [attachment=32132:03092009.jpg] [attachment=32133:03092009_001_.jpg] Going to give it a whirl at my next gig but after playing it again today I'm not sure I'm going to get on with the scale so I'll take the Ray just in case it doesn't happen for me.

Thanks for the info guys. Never really been in to flats but I might give them a go if thats the consensus. One more question. Were am I going to get a case for it ? Too big for a guitar case and it rattles around in the Stingrays case. I've had a quick trawl through here and on the net but apart from the fender one at 170 dollars had no luck.

I've got an old Mustang, it was my first real bass and I've owned it for 30 years. It hasn't gigged for at least 20 years but I fancy giving it a blast in my newish band. What strings do you use ? And also I use quite light roundwounds on my Stingray and I like them. Can you get away with light strings on one of these or does it lose a bit of bottom cos' it's short/medium scale, whatever it is. ta muchly Les

Yes Steve I'm gigging again. Spent many years in club cabaret bands, don't ever want to go back to it. Now playing in a 3 piece, guitar, bass, drums, doing pubs. All covers. Foo Fighters, Killers, Greenday, Radiohead, Manics, Stereophonics, U2 etc and loving it. Are you gigging ?

'welcome pie eater' Thanks Graham, but I'm only an honorary pie eater cos' I was born in Bootle, I've lived here 41 years but I'm still an "outlander" to the locals. Steve, I live in Ashton, the centre of the known universe . Where abouts are you ?

"Other (please state)" Musicman Stingray, but it's not Ernie Ball.